


Be My Valentine

by omgdaichi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (in the past), Bullying, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29774616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omgdaichi/pseuds/omgdaichi
Summary: Valentine's day USHITEN based on atwitter threadI wrote
Relationships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 62





	Be My Valentine

A group of girls passes him by in the hallway, giggling about what they’re doing this weekend. Tendou resists the urge to tear down the streamers that decorate the hallways. It’s the week before Valentine’s day and the student council has decorated the entire school with pink and red heart-themed streamers, balloons, and entirely too much glitter. Truthfully, it looks like a fifth-grader did it, which only makes him hate it more. 

He doesn’t have good memories of his time before Shiratorizawa, especially not of Valentine’s day. When he was in grade school, he didn’t have any friends or even acquaintances thanks to his looks. The kids were scared of him. They called him a freak, a monster, anything in the books that would make any child run away to cry by himself. And he did. Tendou cried a lot as a child. He would go home, stare into the mirror, and curse his looks. He would curse his too-wide eyes, his too-small irises that appeared red in the light, and his mouth which curved upwards despite how he felt on the inside. Most nights he would cry himself to sleep and hope he would wake up in the morning and look different. Anything was better than what he had. 

The bullying got worse when he got to sixth grade, on Valentine’s day. He had yet to make a friend, so he wasn’t expecting anything to be in his desk when he got to class that morning. But he checked anyway, in hopes that maybe, maybe this year would be different. He remembers the way his chest tightened before his heart started to race when he saw the pink envelope and the loopy handwriting that spelled out his name. He opened it quietly, afraid for anyone to see, and he was so sure his smile would break his face as he read the letter asking to meet him after class. He spent the entire day vibrating in his seat, excited to see who could have written him a letter like that, a letter telling him they really liked him, and that they wanted to be friends, maybe even more. On his way outside, he was imagining how he would tell them he’d never dated before, so he wasn’t sure what to do. But when he arrived, his chest tightened again, and the vibrating in his hands slowed to a dull ache. Half of the school was waiting for him there. Most of them were already laughing, a few of them actually looked sorry, but in the middle stood the boy Tendou hoped the letter had been from. And instead of a confession or even a friend, Tendou got a punch to the gut and a handful of kicks to the stomach. 

The bell rings and Tendou realizes he’s been staring at a glitter-covered heart outside of his classroom for far too long. He slips into his classroom and ducks down into his seat. The room is decorated similarly, and a few girls in the back of the room are asking each other who they’ll confess to. Tendou looks around the room and sees Ushijima setting his notebooks and pens out of his desk in an orderly fashion. 

He relaxes and sinks low in his chair. Shiratorizawa isn’t grade-school. Tendou fits in here. He’s on the volleyball team, a national qualifying volleyball team at that, and he has friends. For once, Tendou has friends that he can text during the week and spend time with during the weekend. And he has Ushijima. 

He ignores the way his heart swells when his eyes find Ushijima again. He’s sitting up straight, so unlike Tendou, and the girl behind him has to peek around his broad shoulders to see the board. Tendou smiles to himself and lets himself admire him from afar. Ushijima Wakatoshi is difficult to describe, but Tendou settles for “Miracle Boy” because Ushijima is fond of it by now. He smiles when Tendou yells it out during practice, which only makes Tendou yell it louder during games. After a year of Ushijima confirming that they were friends, Tendou stopped questioning it. He didn’t want to risk thinking about why Ushijima spent time with him, listened to him rant about the manga he was reading this week, or why he would wait for Tendou to finish eating lunch before leaving for his next class. If he thought about it too much, he’d either cry or convince himself he’s imagining the whole thing. Which sounds ridiculous, sure, but Tendou’s positive it could happen. 

Class ends and Tendou grabs his bag he didn’t even bother to open, and walks out into the hallway to find Ushijima. That’s another thing he does- waits for him without Tendou asking him to. They walk back to the dorm together, sometimes in quiet, but usually, Tendou can’t keep his mouth shut and he ends up talking the entire time. He skips slightly in front of Ushijima and looks back every now and then to make sure he didn’t lose him. He voices this aloud sometimes just to hear Ushijima say “I don’t think you could lose me, Tendou. I’m far too large.”

Tendou laughs, and despite the few stares he gets at the volume of it, Ushijima still smiles. “You’re right, Toshi. But what if you lose me?”

Ushijima frowns and furrows his brows as if Tendou’s question is completely out of the realm of possibilities. Tendou looks away to hide the blush on his face. “I would find you.”

He laughs again and falls back into step beside him. “It’s the hair, right?”

Ushijima hums softly like he’s agreeing, but then he shakes his head. “I would know how to find you even if your hair wasn’t red.”

“How would you do that?”

“I’m very smart, Tendou. I would find a way.” 

Another laugh bursts out of him just as they walk through the doors of their dorm. He gets a dirty look from the woman at the front desk and Ushijima quickly ushers them towards the stairs. “Sorry, sorry. You’re right, you are smart.”

“I know.”

Tendou laughs the entire way up to their floor and skips down to his door, just across from Ushijima’s. He turns to wait for Ushijima to catch up, and as they stand their at their own doors, Tendou finds himself smiling. “Thanks for looking for me, Toshi.”

He predicts the confused look before it happens, and it still makes him smile wider. After another moment, Ushijima figures it out and he smiles too, though Tendou can tell he’s still a little lost. “That’s what friends do.”

His heart swells so big he’s sure it’s leaving an imprint on his t-shirt. “Yeah,” he says, his voice barely above a breath. “That’s what friends do.”

It’s two days before Valentine’s day and Tendou is tired of it. Semi is talking about some girl he’s taking out this weekend and Reon is waxing romantics about the girl in his class who smells like raspberries. He looks across the table at Ushijima who is listening intensely to Goshiki explain why he should be the ace (for the fifth time this week) and Tendou finds himself smiling at the way he picks the peas out from his rice. Knowing Ushijima Wakatoshi is a picky-eater will be Tendou’s secret weapon when he goes on Jeopardy someday. 

“What are you doing this weekend, Ushijima?”

Tendou resists the urge to throw his drink at Shirabu. The last thing Tendou wants to know is what Ushijima’s going to do on Valentine’s day. He’s been ignoring thinking of the possibilities this entire week.

“Practicing.”

Semi lets out a snort and Goshiki proceeds to ask Ushijima if he can join him. Tendou lets the tension seep from his shoulders and shoves a spoonful of rice into his mouth to stop the self-satisfied grin from creeping onto his face. A part of him knows Ushijima wouldn’t go out with anyone anyway, despite all the letters he’s been getting, but Tendou still didn’t want to think about it. He wants to let himself at least dream about the possibility of Ushijima returning his feelings. 

The thought of those feelings made him want to gag anyway. He has never been good with feelings, mostly because he’s never known how to express them, but also because he’s never had them like this. For the first few months of their friendship, Tendou figured wanting to be around Ushijima all the time just meant that they were best friends. He’d never had a friend before, so he wasn’t sure how what he felt towards Ushijima was any different. Until he befriended the rest of the team and realized that maybe wanting to hold your friend’s hands wasn’t exactly the normal thing to desire. 

Reon’s the only one who knows about his feelings, as far as he knows, but that’s because he figured it out on his own. Though, he suspects Semi has caught on by now if the fleeting glances he sends him when Ushijima waits for him to finish eating are anything to go by. But he’s sure that Ushijima doesn’t know. If Ushijima knew, well, Tendou would probably walk himself into the sun. 

Thankfully, his best friend was extremely dense. 

Tendou barely manages to pull himself out of bed this morning. It’s Valentine’s day, and all he wants to do is stay inside and finish reading the newest manga chapter he’s picked up, but Ushijima had texted him last night and asked to meet him for blocking practice. And Tendou is weak when it comes to Ushijima, so he says yes, if not for the idea that he can trick himself into thinking this is some sort of date. He laughs to himself at how delusional he sounds and expects Semi to throw a pillow at his head. Except Semi is gone already. Odd, but not so unusual that Tendou’s ready to send out a search party. He finishes getting ready and skips his way down the stairs to start heading for the gym.

There aren’t many people out this early in the morning, which is great for Tendou so he doesn’t have to see people running around in love. He wishes he could stop being so bitter about it, but he has his reasons. And it’s not that he doesn’t think he’ll ever find love someday, he just hates the holiday, if you can even call it that. Despite his own past with it, the idea of professing your love on a day about love just ruins the fun of it. It’s too predictable. Too-

Tendou comes to a stop in front of the gym’s entrance. Ushijima is there, standing with a bouquet of red roses, what looks like a heart shaped candy box, and red and pink balloons tied around his waist that float above his head. He looks stiff, awkward, and incredibly endearing, but Tendou’s smile falls from his face when Ushijima spots him and steps forward. 

“Hello, Satori.”

Tendou watches as he holds out the flowers. They’re beautiful and expensive looking. He wants to cry and throw them on the ground all at the same time. “What are you- who are those for, Wakatoshi?”

Ushijima furrows his brows, and that cute, confused puppy-eyed-look tugs at Tendou’s heartstrings. Tendou’s brow twitches, and he sees movement from the side of gym. He looks over and sees Goshiki and Semi just barely peeking out from the side of the brick building, unaware he can see them all too clearly. “You. It’s Valentine’s day.” Tendou freezes up on the spot, his hands suddenly start to sweat, and he feels his bottom lip start to tremble. A joke. It’s a joke. The pain of his younger years crashes into him all at once and it feels as though he’s being kicked in the stomach again. But this time it’s one hundred times worse because Shiratorizawa was supposed to be different... Ushijima was supposed to be different. The tears start to fall as Ushijima takes another step closer. “Did I get the wrong flowers?”

Tendou quickly reaches up to wipe at his face and shakes his head with a bitter laugh. “You got me good, Toshi. Funny.” He has to use the sleeve of his sweater to stop the tears that won’t stop falling. His chest feels tight, and he wonders if it’s possible to die from embarrassment. From heartbreak. “You can stop now, okay?”

He feels hands tugging at his wrists and then thumbs swiping under his eyes. When he sniffles, there’s another thumb wiping under his nose. He feels like a child all over again. “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, Satori, but please don’t cry.”

“You know I do.” Tendou sniffles again and lets himself indulge in the way Ushijima is cupping his cheek while he wipes more tears away. It feels good, even if the reminder he’ll never really get this hurts. “That’s why you’re doing this, right? It’ll be so funny when you tell me this is a joke and-”

“Satori.” Tendou stops his babbling and finally looks up to see Ushijima’s face. He’s frowning, which is nothing new, but his eyes are wide and they look worried. Like maybe he’s sorry. Tendou hates that he already wants to forgive him for this. Ushijima cups his cheeks and brushes his thumbs under Tendou’s eyes one last time. “You of all people know I am not good with jokes.” Tendou wants to laugh, maybe even crack a smile, but he’s suddenly so tired. “So why would I ever joke about loving you the way that I do? When I am so sure that I love everything about you?”

Tendou replays the words in his head until he realizes his brain wasn’t just messing with him. But he asks just to be sure. “You love me?” 

Ushijima nods. “That’s why I bought you flowers and chocolates. Is that not what you do on Valentine’s day? I thought that-”

“But they…” He looks over to the side of the building to see Shirabu on the ground with his camera out, Goshiki and Reon crying, and Semi smirking softly at them, like this was all his idea. He looks back at Ushijima and meets those green eyes again. It hadn’t hit him until now how close they are, and that Ushijima’s still holding his face like he’s something precious. Tears threaten to spill down his face again, and he feels his heart start to beat a steady rhythm. “You mean it, Toshi?”

Ushijima looks over his face and leans in close, so close that Tendou holds his breath, half of him still waiting for the punchline. The other half of him, the one that wins out with each moment that Ushijima looks at him like he’s the only one on the planet, nods when Ushijima asks, “May I kiss you now?”

A year later, Tendou wakes up to flowers in his face and the smell of something sweet in the air. He stretches out and takes a deep breath before he gets out of the warm bed, bringing the flowers with him. The sight that greets him in the kitchen is one of his favorite things. Ushijima is shirtless as he pulls out a batch of cinnamon rolls Tendou knows he got up early to make. He turns and spots Tendou, and gives him a small smile before Tendou steps forward to kiss him good morning. Ushijima wraps him in his arms and presses kisses across his cheeks and brushes their noses together. 

“Happy Valentine’s day, Satori.”

Tendou smiles, and for the second time in his life, he means what he says next. “Happy Valentine’s day, Wakatoshi.”


End file.
